For a while in Alaska in the 1980s, there were a few guys in Southeast who used fishing boats in the offseason to get glacial ice chunks which they thawed and then sold to Japan as pure 10,000 year old glacial waters. Eventually some Greenie idiots sued them for tampering with the saline balance of the ocean waters. when going fishing on the Kenai peninsula, we always stopped by Portage glacier. if the winds had blown ice blocks up on the beach, they were great in the coolers. the dense glacial ice took 3 or 4 times longer to melt than freezer ice.

I've got to admit I like the idea of extra-great ice. Ice can be bad and mess up a drink. My solution is not to drink anything with ice (other than to accept the ice water that's generally served in restaurants). I could see ordering a fine Scotch and taking it with this high-quality ice.

I would not stay at the icehotel, but I would definitely have a drink in the icebar. Vodka in a glass made of ice? Yes, definitely. Please. Make it a double. In fact, just line them up and I'll get started right away.

Anyway, it's the vanity of hipster jackasses with more money than sense which makes it possible for the rest of us to live above subsistence, as Gibbon pointed out:

"Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the necessities, and none of the superfluities, of life. But in the present imperfect condition of society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to be the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property. The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may purchase additional pleasures. "

Ice is ice, but there are differences that can be important. We saw from the Alhouse ice skating pictures, clear ice. This ice is at least aesthetically different from the milky looking ice (filled with tiny bubbles of air) that we get from our automatic ice makers.

Lately I have been fascinated by the ability of ice, or rather the formation of ice, in purifying or concentrating solutions. It seems that an ice crystal would rather (in a thermodynamic sense) have another water molecule added on than a molecule of something else. If you freeze a water solution slowly, the ice will be more pure than the remaining liquid. I have been exploiting this virtue to concentrate hard cider into apple jack. You partially freeze hard cider and then strain the remaining liquid, which is enriched in alcohol, un-fermented sugars and various flavor compounds.

Ice is as important to a bartender as a stove is to a chef. The guy in the article is not the best messenger (and his product is probably a lot more sizzle than steak), but his overall point is a good one. For a quality drink, you need the right ice. A proper old fashioned? Huge ice, to keep the drink as cold as possible while diluting as little as possible. A Caribbean over-proof rum punch? Crushed ice, if you want to make it to the bottom of the glass without passing out. The biggest difference between the products of high-end cocktails bars and hobbyist isn't the bitters or the tinctures or the infusions, it's the quality of ice. I've been lobbying for a Kold-Draft machine at our house for awhile, but in the mean time I have Tovolo silicon molds to make 1" and 2" cubes, for shaking and serving rocks drinks/spirits, respectively.

Clarity is another issue entirely. There are all sorts of folks out there pitching methods to achieve clearer ice. Obviously you've got the ice sculpture rigs, but they're huge and cost thousands of dollars. Others try freezing water straight off the boil, directional freezing with the use of insulated coolers, or even constant agitation through pumps or heavy bass. The best results I've seen have come from the cooler in the freezer setups. They concentrate the impurities at the bottom where they can be chipped off.